


Idiot!

by orphan_account



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action/Adventure, Humor, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Post-Naruto Time Skip | Naruto Shippuden, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Romance, Uchiha Sasuke Returns to Konoha
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-09-28 08:13:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 14,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17179208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: After being forced to room together by Lady Tsunade, Sasuke learns that maybe Naruto isn't such an idiot after all.





	1. Chapter 1

"Hey, Sasuke!" Naruto called out. He ran to where I was standing and put his hand on my shoulder. "Do you know why Granny Tsunade called us over? I was in the middle of training when Kakashi gave me the message to come here."

He put his arms up behind his head and walked alongside me.

I rolled my eyes at him. "How the hell am I supposed to know? Tsunade never tells me anything, in fact, I'm pretty sure that she doesn't even like me."

We walked up the steps of the Hokage's building and talked.

"Well geez don't be such a downer Sasuke, I was just asking a question," He narrowed his eyes at me and continued to walk up the steps. 

I rolled my eyes again. Tsunade didn't like me at all, especially after the rescue mission with Shikamaru, Naruto, Lee, and the others. She saw how badly I hurt Naruto. I didn't blame her for not liking me. I didn't like me much either.

"Maybe we have a mission," Naruto thought out loud. He placed his hand on his chin and rubbed an imaginary beard. He looked silly rubbing something that wasn't there.

I almost laughed...

At his stupidity of course. 

But I would never laugh at anything he did. His jokes were immature, either fart related or sexual. He was like a miniature Jiraiya with his stupid jokes and perverted nature. It was something that I hoped he'd grow out of.

"Whatever," I sighed. "Let's just get to her office before she throws a fit."

I ran up the remainder of the steps and made my way to Tsunade's office. I liked Naruto a lot. I mean why wouldn't I like him? He was my friend of course. But there were times when I didn't particularly see him as just a friend. Sometimes he said things that really made me wonder, things that made me think that maybe he wasn't such a knucklehead ninja after all.

"Hey wait!" Naruto yelled. "Sasuke!"

I ran and ran through the halls of the building, completely ignoring Naruto's cries. I felt like if I stayed near him any longer I would end up doing something regrettable.

After I was sure that I lost him I turned the corner of the hall and walked into the Hokage's office.

Upon entering I saw her take a swig from her bottle of Saké. 

When she saw me walk in she gave a smile.

"Sasuke, I'm glad that you're here," she said with a burp. "I called you and Naruto over here because I had a pretty crazy idea the other day. I'm hoping that maybe it can benefit both of you."

Was she drunk? Surely she wouldn't call Naruto and me over here while she was wasted. She was a professional, wasn't she?

I opened my mouth to address her drunken state when I heard a door slam open. 

"Sasuke!" Naruto called out. "Why the heck did you leave me all alone you jerk! We were supposed to be walking together."

He stomped into Tsunade's office with his brows furrowed and his fists clenched tightly. 

"Jerk," he muttered under his breath.

I turned to him and grabbed his shirt with my first. "You wanna say that again idiot." I lifted him off of the ground and pushed my face closer to his. "You say it like we actually agreed to walk together when we didn't. As far as I'm concerned you just ran up to me and started walking. I didn't give you permission."

"Yeah well, it's not like you told me to go away or anything. I thought you were actually enjoying my company," his voice softened and he looked down at Sasuke's hands gripping his shirt. 

"Hey wait, you know I didn't mean that," I released my grip. 

Damn Naruto. He always knew how to make me feel bad enough to want to apologize for the things that I did. I never understood why he had that much power over my thoughts. It/wasn't fair!

Tsunade slammed her hand against the desk, "That's enough you too. God, can you talk for more than five minutes without fighting?"

She sighed and then let out a burp. 

"You're drunk," Naruto and I deadpanned.

"As always," Naruto said while rolling his eyes. "How typical of you, granny."

Naruto shook his head in utter disappointment. He knew Tsunade was a drunk but he at least expected her to be professional while they were around. Clearly, she wasn't capable of that. 

"Anyway," she began. "Since you two are always fighting I came up with an idea that might be able to improve your relationship." She put her arms up on the desk. "You two are going to be living together until further notice."

"Hey wait a minute!" Naruto yelled. "There's no way I'm rooming with Sasuke. He doesn't even like me."

I looked at Naruto and rolled my eyes. "Oh please, you say it like I hate you or something."

He looked at me with a blank expression.

"I don't hate you!" I yelled. "But I definitely don't want to live with you."

I crossed my arms.

"I don't hate you I just don't wanna live with you," Naruto mimicked. "Blah blah blah."

"Oh yeah well, you're..." I paused looking for the proper insult. "An idiot?"

When it came out it sounded more like a question than a statement and I mentally scolded myself for allowing it to sound like that.

Naruto laughed and pointed at me, "Was that question Sasuke?" 

The way he said it was so condescending that I had to resist the urge to knock him out. Instead, I once again took hold of his shirt.

"Say some crap like that again and I swear I to God I will-" 

Tsunade clapped her hands together. "That's enough! As I've said before you two clearly don't know how to get along. My mind is made up. So pack your things Sasuke, you'll be moving in with Naruto by the end of tonight. Now hopefully this can be a learning experience for both of you."

She held her palm up to her face and sighed before muttering something about how she needed more saké.

"B-but Tsunade, me and Sasuke are both 17 we can make our own choices," Naruto argued. "Why should we listen to you?" 

Tsunade's expression hardened. "Okay, that's it," she said while pushing me and Naruto out of her office. "Go start packing and have fun!"

And with that, she slammed the doors to her office and left Naruto and me in an awkward silence.

We sighed in unison.

Naruto turned to me and offered a goofy smile. "Even though you're a total jerk and you hate me I'm actually really excited to be your roomie. Go get your stuff and meet me back at my house." 

I turned to walk away when I heard Naruto let out a chuckle from behind me.

"We're gonna have a sleepover!" he said. "It'll be awesome Sasuke."

I raised my eyebrows and once again sighed deeply. 

This was gonna be one hell of a ride.


	2. Sleepover pt. 1

When I gathered my stuff from my house and made my way over to Naruto's I thought about what it would be like to live with him. Was his house messy, did he have food aside from ramen, did he have porno mags? 

I really hoped that he didn't have any porno mags. 

I shuddered at the thought and knocked on the door of his house. 

"Sasuke!" he yelled while opening the door. "You're just in time for the sleepover. Go ahead and take a seat near the couch! The other guys are already here."

Wonderful. When he said sleep over I thought it was going to be just us, I didn't know he was inviting the entirety of the rookie nine. 

I walked into the living room and was greeted with the smiling faces of Choji, Kiba, and Lee. Along with the not so smiling faces of Neji and Shino. They were all sitting in a circle talking to each other. 

Thankfully the girls weren't there. I wouldn't be able to stand even a second of Sakura and Ino's fangirling. Of course I didn't mind Hinata or TenTen since they weren't interested in me but Hinata was too shy and TenTen was too obsessed with Neji. 

As I sat down Lee turned to me and gave a thumbs up. He said, "Hey Sasuke, it is wonderful that you and Naruto will be sleeping together now. Hopefully your teamwork can improve and you guys can become even better friends."

Sleeping together? Geez Lee you didn't have to say it like that. But out of all the people in this room Naruto probably would be the one I'd be most likely to sleep with. 

If I was gay. 

"Hn," I said just as the other boys struggled to contain their laughter. 

"You and Naruto? Sleeping together?" Kiba said with a snort. "Now I'd pay to see that."

"Well you can keep sleeping with your dog Kiba," Naruto retorted. "I'm not with Sasuke but even if I was I'd still be getting better dick than you."

Everyone including me gasped while Shino and Neji let out a genuine laugh. 

"That was actually pretty good, Naruto," Neji said in between laughs. "Well done."

I wasn't too surprised seeing Neji laugh but Shino was a different story. His normally stoic expression was gone and replaced with pink tinted cheeks and what I assumed was a smile from the way the lines under his eyes we're shaped. 

They laughed for a few more minutes before Choji interrupted them. 

"Okay okay, guys let's just settle down," Choji said. He opened a new bag of potato chips. "Let's play a game or something."

The guys looked at each other quizzically. 

"Fuck, Marry, Kill?"

"Truth or Dare?"

"Spin the bottle?"

"Ew no, that's gay!"

"Yeah you are right that is pretty gay."

"Never Have I ever?"

Naruto turned to me, "What do you think Sasuke?"

He flashed a smile and waited for my response as I thought. I didn't particularly want to play anything, in fact, I kind of wanted everyone to leave so I could get some rest. But Naruto would probably never let me hear the end of it if I did that. I considered my options. 

Truth or Dare could end rather badly if anyone asked me about my time with Orochimaru, Spin the Bottle was pretty gay and I wasn't in the mood to kiss anyone, Never Have I Ever sounded boring, but Fuck, Marry, Kill couldn't be so bad. 

"Fuck, Marry, Kill," I said. "What's the worst that could happen?"

Kiba jumped in his seat and shouted yes. "I'll go first!"

He racked his brain thinking of people to ask about before giving a devilish smirk and saying, "Naruto, fuck, marry, kill. Ino, Sakura, and Hinata."

Too easy. He's gonna kill Ino, marry Sakura, and fuck Hinata. 

"Uh well," he put his hand behind his head and a blush spread across his cheeks. "I guess I would kill Ino, marry Hinata, and eff Sakura? I mean, I don't really like Ino, Hinata is too sweet so I'd never be able to just eff her, and I'm not really into Sakura anymore so I guess I'd just eff her and be done with it."

He gave a nervous chuckle before muttering something unintelligible under his breath. I couldn't hear what it was but it sounded like something about me? 

Naruto clapped then rubbed his hands together. "Alright Neji, fuck, marry, kill. TenTen, Sakura, and Lee."

Neji choked on his air. "Did you just say Lee?" His eyes darted over to Lee and widened. "I mean I guess I would kill Sakura..."

He paused and looked at the rest of us. Kiba and Naruto had smirks on their faces and Lee and I were just sitting there dumbfounded. 

I think we all knew where this was going. 

"Marry Lee since he's my best friend and fuck TenTen because she's pretty." Neji bit his bottom lip when he noticed everyone's stares "Oh don't look at me like that, Naruto was literally just talking about taking Sasuke's dick."

Naruto grabbed a pillow from his couch and threw it at Neji. "I was joking!"

Neji gave Naruto an "oh really" kind of look and rolled his eyes. 

He turned to me and said, "Sasuke this one is for you." He paused for dramatic effect. "Naruto, Sakura, and Ino."

Everyone in the room let out an ooh sound. Kiba drummed against his thighs and Shino seemed to be listening intently. Shikamaru was as uninterested as ever. 

I smirked as I thought. 

"No doubt about it I'd fuck Ino, kill Sakura, and marry Naruto. But to be honest I'd only marry Naruto for his body, he doesn't seem to have any other redeemable qualities." I ended with a shrug. 

"Huh?" Naruto said. "You take that back! I know that my body is excellent but I also have a personality y'know?!"

He looked at me agape from what I had said. 

"This sleepover is proving to be much more fun than I previously thought," Lee whispered to Neji. "I am starting to see why the Lady Hokage wanted them to room together."

"Oh please Naruto," I said with an eye roll. "You barely have a personality. The only thing I can imagine you being good for is sex."

"Oh snap," Kiba said with raised eyebrows. His eyes darted from me to Naruto. 

"Now wait just a minute, Sasuke. Do you have some kind of thing for me or something? Why do you keep talking about fucking me?"

He threw his hands up. 

"Shut the fuck up you little..." I began before pausing when I saw the guys looking at us like we were insane. "Er never mind. We shouldn't do this in front of the guys." I cleared my throat. "I'm sorry for being so aggressive Naruto."

"I'm sorry too," he grumbled. "Hug it out?"

He flashed a smile and held out his arms. 

"Don't push it," I said. "I'm still mad."

After the whole thing was over the rest of the guys just sat and stared at us blankly. I could tell that they were enjoying every second of this sleepover. 

"Oh man," Kiba said while slapping his hand against his thigh. "You two are like an old married couple."

Shikamaru smirked. "I wonder who would wear the pants in that relationship."

He leaned back.

Seriously. What kind of question was that? 

"Well isn't it obvious?" Naruto said with a chuckle. 

We looked at each other. 

"That would be me of course!" we both shouted in unison.


	3. Sleepover pt. 2

"What do you mean, you would be the dom?" I asked while turning to look at Naruto. 

That knucklehead didn't seriously think that he could dom me, did he? Why would I let him give it to me? It was preposterous as if he didn't know my personality at all. 

"Uh yeah," Naruto said. "I do think that I could dom you, in fact, I'd do it right here and right now if the guys weren't around."

"Oh, you would?" I retorted. "I highly doubt that."

I narrowed my eyes at him. 

Naruto would never be able to dom, it just wasn't in his nature. I shook my head at him and prepared to say something else when I heard the voices of our friends. They had been pretty quiet during our conversation so it was weird to finally hear them speak again. 

Kiba leaned over to Shino and said, "Is it just me or is their suddenly a lot of sexual tension running through these two. It's almost like watching newlyweds fight over where they're gonna honeymoon." 

Shino nodded and murmured, "Perhaps we should leave."

"Yes perhaps we should," Lee responded. "Um, Naruto and Sasuke?"

Me and Naruto simultaneously turned to them with a confused look. 

"Shikamaru, Kiba, Neji, Shino, and I will be taking our leave. We feel we have overstayed our welcome and that you two would much prefer to be without us. But we thank you for letting us stay for a while."

The group of boys stood up before murmuring to each other and exiting our home. 

"Oh come on," Naruto said after they left. "It's only been like an hour and they're already gone."

I made a 'hn' sound. "Good. I didn't want to have a sleepover in the first place. You were the one that kept insisting on it."

I threw my hands up in defeat and walked to Naruto's bedroom. 

That idiot. This was just as much my house as it was his and it was annoying that he acted like he was the only one that lived there. All I wanted to do was sleep but of course, Naruto found a way to ruin that for me too. 

I plopped down on Naruto's bed and sighed. Blaming him for everything wrong in my life wasn't going to get me anywhere. Even if he pissed me off sometimes he wasn't horrible. He was actually pretty important to me. 

So when he walked into the room to apologize to me later that night, it's safe to say that I was mildly surprised. 

"Hey Sasuke," he said with an empathetic look on his face. "I just wanted to apologize. I know that you just got back to the village and that you probably don't want to deal with me right now but I just wanted you to have fun. You've been through a lot and you never talk to me about any of it. You just bottle it all up tell me that it's fine. I know it isn't fine, Sasuke. You're my best friend and you have to know that you can tell me anything."

This particular moment was very important to me, his speech about trusting him and being his best friend had taken me back to when we were younger. The simple time when he was in love with Sakura, Kakashi thought we were all idiots, and the Third Hokage was still around. Before I'd been through the hellish nightmare of Orochimaru's "camp" as he liked to call it. 

"Naruto, I won't tell you all the details of what happened during my time with Orochimaru..." 

"B-but Sasuke!"

"At least I won't tell you yet," I continued. "And I'm sure that you already know this but there are fates worse than death. There were times where I didn't think that I could make it."

I bit my trembling bottom lip and watched Naruto. He sat next to me on the bed and patted my shoulder. 

"The important thing, however, is that I did make it. I promise I'll tell you all about it when I'm ready but for now let's just enjoy the peace and quiet. Peace and quiet is good sometimes."

I slipped under the covers of the bed and watched as Naruto did the same. 

He ran a hand through my hair and sighed. 

"I felt so alone without you," he said. 

I was glad to know that he missed me as much as I missed him but was I seriously that important to him? 

I gave Naruto a sideways glance, "Well what about Sakura and Kakashi? They're your friends too."

"Well yeah I know that Sasuke but they just aren't you. You're on a whole different level than them. Y-you actually understand me and accept me for who I am. I feel different around you."

I felt the same way. Naruto truly was one of the only people that understood me and accepted me. Flaws and all. 

The way that I felt about Naruto wasn't something that I liked to talk or even think about. I knew that he probably didn't feel the same and I knew that if Sakura, Ino, or even Hinata found out about how I felt that they would feel hurt. Possibly even betrayed. 

I didn't want to do that to them but I couldn't just ignore my feelings either because if I did I would probably fucking explode. 

"We should go to sleep now," Naruto said as he scooted closer to me. "Oh but fair warning I tend to grab onto things while I'm sleeping so if you wake up tomorrow and I have you in a chokehold then you know why." 

He and I chuckled. 

"I swear on the Third Hokage that I'll kill you if I wake up in a chokehold tomorrow," I said while smiling at him. 

His chuckle erupted into full blown laughter and he turned off the lamp on his nightstand. 

After a moment or two our laughter faded and was replaced with a comfortable silence.

"I meant what I said about the chokehold," Naruto said after a minute. "I don't know where my stuffie is so I really am sorry if I do end up cuddling with you."

He started to mumble about how he didn't want to make me feel uncomfortable and how it probably seemed gay of him to talk about cuddling me. 

Truthfully I didn't really care about acting gay with Naruto. I liked him. 

"It's okay Naruto. You just have to remember one very important thing."

I shut my eyes and began to rest. 

It was nice to be able to sleep next to someone that I actually cared about. Even if that someone was mildly annoying.

"What's that?" he asked.

"No homo," I replied before being consumed by a deep sleep.


	4. The Bell Test

Quick Author's Note: I'm definitely not the best at writing action scenes, please forgive me. I promise I'll get better. 

Onto the story:

About two weeks after Naruto and I moved in together, we started to see significant improvement in our teamwork and battle strategy. 

It was an extremely sunny day and me, Sakura, and Naruto had been training out by the forest. 

Kakashi had decided to once again give us the bell test we'd received so many years ago to see how much we'd improved since then. 

I had to admit, I was mildly intrigued to see what he had in store for us. 

I felt a rush of excitement as we ran through the forest searching for him. I hadn't trained with team 7 in so long and I was eager to see how much they'd improved. 

Sakura dragged behind us. She looked like she had been deep in thought. 

"Guys," she whispered and motioned for us to follow her. She walked in the direction of a large tree and mouthed the words, "He's back there."

She walked closer to the tree before looking to us for approval and punching the ground. 

We heard a disgruntled yell as the ground beneath us began to crack into a thousand pieces. Kakashi shot up into the air. 

I took his airborne position as my chance to charge. I ran and jumped up into the air at top speed. 

"Naruto! Get behind him. We can cut him off and get the bells," I yelled. "Sakura, make sure that he doesn't fall!"

"Got it!" they said in unison. 

They took their positions, Naruto made a hand sign and created two clones while Sakura readied her fists. 

"Let's do this, Sasuke. Believe it!"

Naruto and his clones jumped into the air opposite of me. When they punched Kakashi a cloud of smoke appeared in place of where he had been. 

"Huh?"

I waved my hand over the smoke. When it finally dissipated there was a tree branch right where Kakashi would've been. 

"Dammit!" Naruto said. "A substitution jutsu?"

"How do we always fall for that?" Sakura asked while looking around. She was still in ready position down on the ground. "I'm gonna keep looking. When you guys get back down make sure to follow my footsteps."

She drew a kunai from her bag and once again began to run. 

Naruto and I fell to the ground. 

"Aw man," he said. "What do we do now?"

I thought for a second before standing up and holding my hand out to Naruto. When he took it he looked at me and his eyes lit up with excitment. 

"Wait," he said. "I have a plan! When we get to Sakura I'll explain everything."

He took off. 

How did he already have a plan? We'd just recovered from being knocked down and he somehow already knew exactly what needed to be done. 

It reminded me of the time we fought Zabuza and he had the idea to transform into the demon wind shuriken to save Kakashi. It was ingenius. 

No doubt he would have another ingenius plan this time. 

"You're an enigma, Naruto," I said as he began to fade into the surrounding trees. 

I followed him to where Sakura was standing. 

They were hiding behind another tree staring at Kakashi as he read from his book. 

"And you're sure it's really him this time?" Naruto asked with a low whisper. 

"Definitely," Sakura replied. "He would never leave a clone with his precious book. This might be our only chance to get the bells so let's not blow it."

When they noticed me they motioned for me to get closer. We huddled up and listened as Naruto spoke of his plan. 

It was insane. Kakashi was a jonin there was no way he would've fallen for it. He'd have to be a total idiot! 

"Naruto that's insane, it would never work," I tried to argue. "How about we just-"

I tried to argue but Sakura shut me down. 

"Don't worry Sasuke," Sakura reassured me. "Naruto isn't as dumb as he acts. I'm sure his plan will work."

Naruto sweat dropped. 

"Anyway," he said. "Let's do this. Sasuke prepare yourself and Sakura make sure that Sasuke doesn't do anything dumb."

He took a quick peek to make sure that Kakashi was still there. When he turned back around he nodded and slowly walked to where Kakashi was. He stood in front of him and smiled. 

"Hey sensei, did you know that in chapter nine of Makeout Paradise-"

Kakashi covered his ears with his hand and started murmuring, "No, no, no." He shook his head. "I haven't made it that far yet. Please don't do this Naruto!"

I took that as my signal and made a hand sign. 

"Earth Style: Military Movement Jutsu."

I burrowed under the ground walked directly under the area that Kakashi sensei stood at. 

"And then this, this, and this happened," Naruto continued to "spoil" the story. "Blah blah blah."

The plan was working so far, all we needed was for Sakura to take her position and Naruto to give us the final signal. 

Speaking of the final signal... 

"Now!" Naruto shouted and charged at Kakashi. 

I reached and grabbed his foot from underneath the ground. Sakura came at him from the right. 

Kakashi sensei grunted. 

We had finally caught him. 

"Yes!" Sakura yelled while pumping her fist into the air. "We did it!"

"We did it!" Naruto repeated. 

"So you're telling me that was all part of your plan?" Kakashi asked with his head hung low. "And that you didn't actually spoil anything?"

I retrieved the bells from his empty hand and held them up. 

"Gotcha."

Naruto threw his hands behind his head the way he did when he was pleased with himself and smiled widely.

"We got the bells~" Naruto sang to himself. 

"Hm. I'm actually quite impressed at your team work," Kakashi said. "Tsunade made a good decision forcing you and Naruto to live together."

"Oh yeah," Sakura said. She furrowed her brows at Naruto. "I forgot that you two were living together. So how's that been going? He hasn't annoyed you has he, Sasuke?"

Great. Sakura was jealous. That was the last thing that I needed. 

I shook my head at her. "How about we all go out for some ramen are Ichiraku's?" I smirked at Kakashi. "Sensei's treat since we beat him."

Naruto's eyes lit up. "Alright! Good idea Sasuke."

He put his arm around my shoulder and chuckled. The gesture was almost comforting, like a lover letting me cry into his shoulder. Except I wasn't sad, in fact, I was happy. For the first time in forever I had felt genuine happiness. Who would've thought that the person to make me feel that way would be Naruto. 

"Don't be an idiot," I said while trying to hide my smile. 

"Oh really?" Naruto said with a goofy smile. "Cos' you're totally smiling right now Sasuke."

He laughed idiotically and clenched his stomach. 

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

We yelled back and forth. 

We hadn't been mad at each other but as always are stupid comments had somehow escalated into an argument. The fact that we were able to do that was almost like a gift. 

"We'll settle this by seeing who can eat more bowls of ramen," Naruto said. 

"Fine!" I said. "Challenge accepted."

I knew that it was stupid but there was no way I was gonna let that knucklehead know that I was actually smiling at him. 

Kakashi looked at Sakura and gave her a close eyed smile. 

"Well they're teamwork isn't perfect but I guess they're getting there."

She gave a wide smile and laughed. 

"Let's just leave them alone for now."

Kakashi chuckled lightly. 

"They'll figure it out."


	5. Ultimate Best Friends

"Too much ramen," Naruto groaned as we walked through the door of his house.

I had his arm over my shoulder and I was trying my best to help him walk as his stomach made incredibly low grumbling noises. 

"Well you shouldn't have eaten so much," I replied with an eye roll. "Now you have a stomach-ache."

I don't remember why but for some reason Naruto and I had a competition to see who could eat more ramen. Must've been over some stupid argument we had during training because right after it we ended up at Ichiraku's eating six bowls of ramen each. 

But that was the thing with Naruto. I never even remembered half of the things that we argued about since they were so unimportant. He was unpredictable.

"What were we even fighting over?" Naruto asked. A light giggle escaped his lips. 

"Who knows?" I asked. "Come on let's just get you to the bed. I'll make you some tea."

I led him over to the bed and made sure that he laid down. He'd definitely eaten way more than he could handle and I knew that if he walked around any longer he'd probably end up vomiting all over the floor. And believe me when I tell you that if he vomited I wasn't gonna be the one to clean it up. 

I told Naruto to stay where he was and I walked over to the kitchen. 

I opened his cabinet, pulled out a tea cup, and filled it with water. When I was done I placed it in the microwave and started to look through his pantry. 

Living with Naruto was such a weird experience. He was the goofiest kid that I had ever met and I never expected myself to actually end up liking him yet there I was, standing around in his kitchen looking through his pantry for tea so his stomach didn't hurt too much and a few weeks earlier I had even slept in the same bed as him. 

The old Sasuke would never do those kinds of things. What happened to the old Sasuke? Why couldn't I be as uncaring and nonchalant as I used to be? 

The way I was acting wasn't me, was it? 

"Shit," I said while pulling a box of chamomile tea out of the pantry. "I'm becoming a housewife, aren't I?"

I sighed and grabbed a tea bag just as I heard the ding from the microwave. 

The worst part was that I actually liked living like that. I loved taking care of him, it felt natural. As if it was what I was destined to do. 

I felt a blush begin to spread across my cheeks. What would Naruto do if he heard me say that? I bet he'd laugh and say something like, "I told you I would be the dom."

The thought of that put a wide smile on my face. 

I grabbed the cup and dropped the tea bag into it. I watched as the water rippled and it reminded me of a time at Orochimaru's hideout in the Sound Village. 

My smile faded as I thought about that moment. 

It was right after my first kill. 

 

The pool of blood rippled as the tears fell from my face. The body of the man I'd just killed laid lifeless on the ground. 

"Well done," I heard Kabuto's smug voice from behind me. "Orochimaru will be happy to hear about this."

My body shook. It was the first time that I'd ever killed anyone and I felt like a monster. 

How would my friends feel if they ever found out that I was a murderer that killed people in cold blood? What would Sakura say? Naruto? 

Kabuto and I backed away from the body and ran back to Orochimaru's hideout. 

Upon entering we saw Orochimaru and a man that looked eerily similar to Naruto. Orochimaru was standing over the man's body, a kunai in hand. 

My eyes widened and screamed, "No stop! He's my friend."

Orochimaru didn't listen. He pierced through the man's skin and let the blood pour out of his wound. 

The man had called for me over and over again but there wasn't anything that I could do to help him. I was frozen with fear and I could hear my heart beating out of my chest. 

Kabuto and Orochimaru laughed as they watched me grovel and move toward my friend. His blood was stained to my fingers. 

"Perfect," Orochimaru hissed. 

He snapped his fingers and the man in front of me disappeared. 

"A simple illusion Sasuke."

There was no sign of the Naruto look-alike. No body, no blood, not even the kunai that Orochimaru had used. 

I looked down at my hands. No blood over there either. 

I wanted to scream. I was tired of all the tortorous mind games. I wanted to get stronger but with Orochimaru's practical jokes I wasn't sure if I would. 

"Now," he said. "Are you ready to learn some real tricks? I promise you it's worth it."

I wanted so badly to walk away from everything. To just go back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves and live a normal ninja life. 

But for some reason I just wasn't able to resist the power that he offered me. 

 

When I came back from my memory I found myseld curled into a fetal position in the kitchen floor with shaky breaths escaping my lips. 

I guess sometime during my flashback I must've screamed because I saw Naruto run into the kitchen and look at me as if he'd just seen a ghost. 

"Sasuke!" he yelled. "What is it? Are you okay?"

I swallowed hard. Was this really the right time to tell Naruto? 

He would know that I was a murderer. 

I wasn't sure if I was even ready for him to know. I just wanted to live freely and forget about everything. Live with Naruto and continue my day to day life as if nothing had happened. But after seeing the things that I saw I just couldn't turn back. I had to face myself. 

"Sasuke, please. What's going on? You can tell me," Naruto pleaded.

He kneeled down next to me and put his hand over my chest. 

"C'mon let's get you to the bed."

He picked me up and limped his way over to the room. 

We laid down in bed together and stared at the ceiling, fresh tears in my eyes. 

"It's Orochimaru, isn't it?" 

I bit my lip and glanced at Naruto. 

"It is."

"What the fuck did he do to you?" 

Naruto's voice was rough. He had sworn before but the thing that frightened me about it this time was the fact that he had said "fuck." 

I'd known Naruto for a long time and I knew that he despised that word. It reminded him of something dirty, something negative. He'd told me a million times before that the word wasn't for him yet here he was using it like it wasn't a big deal. 

"He turned me into a monster," I said trembling. 

The tears wouldn't stop falling and I felt my sanity start to creep away. 

"Sasuke you aren't-" 

"I am!" I yelled at him. "I murdered people in cold blood. Orochimaru showed me an illusion of you-"

I stopped. I didn't want to frighten Naruto by telling him about the illusion I'd seen. 

"Look," I said. "We don't have to worry about Orochimaru anymore. I don't think he'll be bothering us for a while."

My face darkened. 

"Sasuke I'll kill him!"

I didn't doubt that. Naruto always kept his promises. 

"Listen Naruto, for now I just want to stay calm and talk to you. I like you, you're my best friend but sometimes I think that maybe we can be more than friends," I turned to him. He was blushing profusely. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Naruto was dense but hopefully he wasn't that dense. 

"You mean...?" Naruto started. "Like ultimate best friends? Sasuke I would love that."

Okay so clearly he was that dense. Maybe this was a sign that I was rushing into things. Of course, I'd known Naruto for years and I can hardly remember a day that went by without me thinking about him but we were barely getting to know each other. And I mean really know each other, beyond our rivalry. 

"Yeah," I said. "Ultimate best friends."

I smiled at him. Naruto was a great guy and I liked him a lot but goddamnit he really was an idiot. 

He was an idiot for sure. 

But it didn't matter because I guess in a way he was my idiot. 

My favorite idiot.


	6. Unlikely Advice

The morning after my night with Naruto, I remember mindlessly walking through the village. My vision was clouded, my heart was heavy, and I couldn't stop thinking about him. It was like he had taken a permanent vacation into my mind.

I hated every second of it. 

He had no right to walk through my mind like that. Who gave him permission? 

I sighed and turned a corner, walking into Leaf Inn. I had to pick up Gaara. He apparently had a mission in the village and it was my job to escort him to the Hokage since Shikamaru refused to do so. 

Lazy fucker. 

The only reason why he didn't want to do it was because Temari wasn't coming around. It was just Gaara this time. 

I sat in the lobby of the inn and waited for Gaara to appear. 

I hadn't seen him since the Chuunin Exams and I was eager to see how he had changed. 

Before, his eyes had an evil determination behind them and his movements seemed to lack purpose. Almost as if he had nothing to fight for, like he was fighting just for the sake of fighting. 

I wanted to see if he was any different. 

"Sasuke Uchiha," Gaara said as he appeared in front of me. "It has certainly been a while. How are you?"

I'd been so deep in thought that I hadn't even noticed him standing right in front of me. 

He was a sight for sore eyes, wearing the garb of the Kazekage and walking around like he was a god. 

Admittedly, the look suited him. 

Though I'd never expected he'd become Kazekage at such a young age. 

"I've been well," I replied while standing up. 

I looked him in the eyes just like I did when I first met him all those years ago. His eyes were different now. They radiated real emotions now like determination and hope, not just bloodlust. 

They almost reminded me of Naruto's eyes. 

"Come on," I said while jerking my head towards the door. "We gotta get to the Hokage's office."

He nodded and sighed. 

We walked outside of the inn. 

"So you're Kazekage now?" I asked him after a moment of silence. "I noticed your clothes."

"Yeah," he replied. His voice was monotone as always. "I did it so I could protect my siblings. Naruto really inspired me."

Naruto. He's done a lot of things, hasn't he? Helped a lot of people. 

It was like I couldn't go one day without hearing people talk about Naruto. At every turn someone was talking about Naruto. It was like they were just trying to taunt me. I was sick of hearing about someone that I couldn't have. But no, everyone was all: "Naruto, Naruto, Naruto."

I clenched my teeth. 

"Forgive me if I'm stepping out of bounds here but you seem to have something on your mind Sasuke. Would you like to talk about it?"

I sighed. 

I wanted to talk to someone about my dilemma but was Gaara really the right person for that? He almost killed me, Sakura, and Naruto a few years ago. I highly doubt he knew anything about romance.

Although I had my doubts, I figured it couldn't hurt to talk to Gaara about my current situation. 

"Well," I began. "There's this guy that I like and I want to tell him that I like him but I doubt that he would feel the same. It's been stressing me out lately."

"I see," Gaara said. "This guy that you like, it's Naruto, isn't it?"

Gaara turned to me. 

I swallowed hard and nodded. 

I couldn't believe it was that obvious. If Gaara already knew, then there were other people that could've known as well. 

"How did you know?"

"Well you weren't exactly being inconspicuous about it. I saw the way you looked at him after he defeated me in the forest, you looked more than impressed. You looked like you had never seen anyone so powerful before." he stopped and thought for a second. "That was when you fell in love with him."

He stated it instead of asking it. 

"Yeah. You're right but he probably doesn't feel the same way."

"Uh-huh," he said. The look that he gave me was sly, like he knew something that I didn't. "What if he does like you? What will you do then?"

"I would..."

Truthfully I didn't entirely know what I would do. I hadn't thought that far ahead. 

There were too many factors. What if we didn't work out as a couple? What if one of us went out on a mission one day and died? What if Sakura got so jealous that she threatened Naruto? What if Naruto wasn't even gay or bi? 

Asking him out wasn't going to be simple. There was a plethora of things that could go wrong. 

"Well, Sasuke, I think that you should ask him out before someone else does," Gaara said while patting me on the back. 

I hated to admit it but he was right. If I didn't ask Naruto out then someone else would and I couldn't let that happen. 

"Alright Gaara, I'll tell you what," I said. "If I ask Naruto out and we fall in love or whatever then you can be my best man at the wedding."

I laughed a little and continued walking. 

Gaara had surprisingly made good points. I couldn't wait forever to ask Naruto out, there were other people that liked him. I wasn't his only love interest. There was Hinata too. 

I sighed. 

Why was love so complicated? 

Gaara's eyes darted over to me. "If you want then I can just use my sand to teleport to the Hokage's office. I don't need an escort."

Although it wasn't very responsible of me, I actually took him up on his offer. I needed time to think about what he'd said and I wouldn't be able to if I was escorting him. 

I waved goodbye to him as he disappeared into a swirl of sand. 

I wondered if Jiraiya knew of anything that Naruto might like. He trained him for four years so surely he must have had some knowledge of what to do for Naruto. 

But where was Jiraiya and was he really the best person to ask? He wrote erotic fiction for a living. 

I shuddered at the thought of asking Jiraiya such personal questions about Naruto. He would probably make it weird. 

But who else could I ask about Naruto? 

Kakashi was a pervert, Hinata had a massive crush on him even though she didn't know much about him, Gai sensei didn't know anything about love, and all the other shinobi that I knew didn't know enough about him to give me advice. 

I walked around, paying little attention to my surroundings. 

I was in front of the ninja Academy. Kids were running around and playing with each other while Iruka sensei watched them with a smile.

Wait. 

Iruka. 

The answer was right in front of me. 

"Iruka sensei!" I yelled while running toward him. 

He turned his head toward me. He was sporting a surprised look on his face. "Sasuke?"

Thank god Iruka sensei was around. Without him I wouldn't have had anyone to help me. He was my only hope. 

"Sensei," I said as I came to a stop in front of Iruka. 

He looked at me eagerly while he waited for my response. 

I took a deep breath and stared straight into his eyes. 

"Can I ask you a few questions about Naruto?"


	7. Ayame and Teuchi: Ramen Experts

"So let me get this straight," Iruka sensei said to me. "You want to do something special for Naruto but you don't know what?"

I nodded in response and watched as Iruka gave me a suggestive smirk. 

"You like Naruto, don't you?"

And there it was. The question that everybody seemed to love to ask me. I had no idea that my feelings were so painfully obvious. If I'd known before I wouldn't have told anyone, I would've just figured something out by myself. 

I tried to remain as cool as possible. "Yeah and I want to tell him but I also want to do something special for him too. That's why I came here. You know Naruto better than anyone else in this village, I just wanted to see if you had any ideas as to how I could ask him out."

Iruka was my only real hope. No one else knew Naruto like he did. 

"Well one thing you could do is make him ramen," Iruka said after a minute of thinking. "I bet that he would really appreciate if you made him ramen instead of taking him to Ichiraku's."

I thought about it. Making ramen for Naruto sounded nice but was it too simple? He ate ramen everyday, he had probably tasted much better ramen than what I was prepared to make for him. 

Naruto ate ramen everyday and as easy as it sounded to make ramen I knew that it wasn't. I'd tasted the ramen at Ichiraku's many times before and it just had a certain taste to it that made everyone love it so much. 

I didn't know if I would be able to imitate the taste without messing up.

I looked up at Iruka. He pulled a paper out of his pocket and scrawled a few numbers on it.

"Since I already know that you aren't the best cook, I figured I'd write you this check so you could ask Teuchi from Ichiraku for lessons." He handed me the paper. "Tell them that you're doing it for Naruto and they'll hook you right up."

Iruka smiled and gave me a pat on the back. 

"Thank you so much Sensei," I said while looking down at the paper. "I won't forget this."

I waved goodbye and ran out of his classroom. 

Before his voice faded I heard him call out to me. 

"Good luck Sasuke!" 

 

 

Before my newfound inspiration faded, I found myself at Ichiraku's for the second time in the past two days. 

"Ahh Sasuke Uchiha," the head chef and owner Teuchi said to me when I walked in. "Weren't you here with Naruto yesterday?"

I nodded my head. "Yes I was! Um, I actually came this time because I wanted to know if I could ask you for a favor."

Teuchi perked up. "And what's that?"

"Well, I was wondering if you would teach me how to make ramen. I was thinking of making dinner for Naruto and I but it occurred to me that I'm not exactly the best with cooking." I tried to sound as sweet as possible. 

Ayame looked at me then her father. A heavy blush appeared on her face. 

"You're making dinner for Naruto?" she giggled. "That's so sweet of you, Sasuke. Tell me, are you making dinner for Naruto as a friend?"

"Or as a lover?" Teuchi wiggled his eyebrows at me. 

How wonderful. It was like no matter what I said to the people of the village they were all convinced that I was in love. Of course, they weren't exactly wrong but it was annoying that they kept bringing it up. 

"I'm simply doing it as a person that wants to please his roommate," I said to them. "He's grown to be very important to me and I want to do something nice for him. Nothing more, nothing less."

I didn't want Ayame or Teuchi to get involved. It wasn't any of their business what I planned to do with Naruto. All I needed was for them to teach me how to properly cook ramen so I could ask Naruto out tonight. 

I didn't need their noses in my business. 

"Fine then," Ayame winked. "Don't tell us. It was obvious anyway."

I rolled my eyes and pulled out the check from my pocket. 

"Will this cover it?" I asked. 

Teuchi squinted his eyes and pulled it out of my hand. He read the numbers off of it and nodded his head.

"Come on back," he said while slipping the check into his pocket. "I can teach you how to make the best ramen in any of the villages but you gotta watch closely."

I jumped over the counter and internally fist bumped myself. 

Teuchi pulled out box of dough from underneath the counter. 

"The first thing you have to do is take out some dough and flatten it as much as possible." He grabbed a wooden roller and let it lightly drift over the dough. 

Once the dough was completely flat he split it into four sections and cut out rectangular shapes. 

"You have to roll up these little rectangular bits. The rectangular bits are the noodles and they're arguably the most important part of the dish. Once you roll them up let them simmer in a pot for a few minutes and start working on your broth."

He handed the uncooked noodles to Ayame and watched as she dropped them into a boiling pot of water. 

He took a bowl from the dish rack and filled it with water. 

"To make the broth," he said while cutting up pieces of beef. "You'll need multiple ingredients. Beef, soy sauce, vegetables, etc."

He squeezed the liquid from the beef into the bowl of water and sprinkled in soy sauce. 

"Stir it and then add vegetables."

He dropped broccoli into the mix. 

Ayame grabbed the noodles from the boiling pot of water and put it into an empty bowl. Immediately after she pure the broth into the bowl and stirred it along with the noodles. 

"If you want to then you can even crack an egg into it for extra flavor," Ayame said with a close eyed smile. 

She grabbed an egg from an empty carton and cracked it into the bowl of ramen. 

"Cover it and let it sit for a few minutes so it can cook inside the bowl. 

She covered the bowl.

While the egg was cooking she said, "The broth is crucial to the taste of the ramen. If the noodles overpower the broth then it won't be good, if the broth overpowers the noodles then it also won't be good. You need to find a common ground between the two if you want your ramen to taste delicious."

"Ayame is right," Teuchi said. "Balance is important and it isn't necessarily easy to obtain. I would recommend that you make a few practice bowls of ramen before your dinner date with Naruto."

When Ayame uncovered the bowl of ramen my nostrils were filled with a rich, warm scent. I let the scent travel through my nose for a few seconds before I finally asked if I could have a taste. 

"Go ahead then," Teuchi said. "You've been a good student. Have a taste."

He handed me some chopsticks. 

I took a deep breath and grabbed the noodles with my chopsticks. 

I popped the chopsticks into my mouth and began chewing. 

It was the best thing I'd ever tasted. 

"Wow," I said in awe. "This is amazing."

I reached into the bowl for more when Teuchi grabbed the chopsticks from me. 

"Save some room kiddo," he said. "You still have to make ramen for Naruto and believe me when I tell you that you're going to be doing a lot of taste testing and your stomach is gonna need to be as empty as possible."

Ayame nodded in agreement. 

"Alright," I sighed. 

I pushed the bowl over to Ayame. 

"But I'm going to make Naruto the best ramen he's ever tasted."

I crossed my arms and smirked. 

There was no way I would let anyone get in my way.


	8. Now's Not the Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short transitional chapter. I had writer's block and I wasn't entirely sure how to make the chapter feel more full. But, since this chapter is so short I'll update again tomorrow.

Remember when I said that I was going to make Naruto the best ramen that he'd ever tasted and that nothing would stop me? 

Yeah, that was a fucking lie. 

While I had been out, Lady Tsunade contacted Naruto and told him that there was a recent Orochimaru sighting and that we had to get to his hideout as quickly as possible. 

So there we were, standing around at the village gate waiting for the rest of our teammates to show up. 

Naruto was bouncing around like a rabid dog and I was counting my kunai to make sure that I had enough for the mission. 

Not that I would even need any kunai at all considering the fact that my taijustu and ninjustsu had gotten considerably stronger. 

But I'll tell you more about that later. For now, let's just focus on what was going on at that exact moment. 

"Hey Sasuke? Have you ever been in love before?" Naruto asked. 

The question caught me off guard. 

I had no idea whether I should answer honestly or lie through my teeth. All I knew was that Naruto was asking me this question for a reason and I needed to know why. I needed to know if he was in love with someone and if that someone was me. 

"Why do you ask? I replied. " Are you in love with someone?"

A blush made its way onto Naruto's face. 

"Yeah but before I pursue anything with them I wanna know the signs so I can make sure it isn't just a shallow crush. Kinda like how I had a shallow crush on Sakura."

A goofy grin spread across his face and he scratched the back of his neck. 

I sucked in a breath of air and tried my best to answer his question. "Well, when you love someone you hate being apart from them, you see their good even when they act bad, you think about them more than you should." I looked at my feet. "The world just feels..." 

I paused looking for the word. 

"Brighter," Naruto finished for me. "The world feels a lot brighter with them in it."

I nodded and gave a small smile.

"Exactly."

I opened my mouth again. I wanted to tell him right then and there how I felt. It didn't matter whether he liked me back, I just wanted to get it off my chest. Surely, he would understand. 

"Naruto I-"

I stopped. We were about to go on a mission. It wasn't the time for me to confess my feelings. After all, I didn't know if either of us would even make it back alive. 

I had no idea what was in store. 

Naruto gave me a look as if to urge me to continue what I was saying. 

"Never mind," I said. "Now isn't the time. I'll tell you later." 

He looked like he was about to say something else but he halted when he saw Sakura and Gaara running towards us. 

"Hey guys," Sakura said while panting. "Sorry I'm late. Lady Tsunade barely briefed me on the mission like 10 minutes ago. I had to run to my house and get dressed super quickly. I didn't even have enough time to finish doing my makeup. Like, couldn't she have told us about this a little bit earlier so we could at least have a heads up."

"Um Sakura?" Gaara said, rolling his cold eyes. "Now isn't the time for your complaining. We have to get to the Sound Village and complete our mission. Tsunade sent us four for a reason. I don't think she'd appreciate you spending so much time on your makeup."

"Hmph," she replied while crossing her arms. "Fine then."

She turned to Naruto and I. 

"I guess we should get going then."

I nodded in agreement. 

"Yeah, believe it!" Naruto said in his usual hyperactive voice. 

Gaara, on the other hand, stayed silent. 

He didn't seem too keen on the idea of this mission. 

"Let's go," Sakura said. She walked into the forest near our village. 

Before Naruto set off to follow Sakura into the forest he turned to me. "We'll talk about what you were saying a little bit later. For now, let's just complete the mission. Right?"

I nodded. 

"Right."

In that moment all I remember thinking is: 'Poor, Naruto.'

He didn't know the trouble that the mission was about to bring about.


	9. Valuable Information

We skipped through the forest like children at a playground. 

Naruto was determined to find Orochimaru and beat the crap out of him. After he saw my breakdown in the kitchen, he swore to get revenge. And as much as I appreciated the thought there was no way Naruto would be able to kill Orochimaru. He was strong but he wasn't that strong. It was like he had no idea what he was up against. 

He saw what Orochimaru did to me at the Chuunin exams. He even went with Jiraiya to meet Tsunade. Orochimaru almost killed him and there he was, thinking that he could fight him. 

It made no sense. 

Plus, Orochimaru had been off the radar for the past month. Nobody except for his minions knew whether he was dead or alive. 

I knew where Orochimaru was but I wasn't going to tell them anything about him. It wasn't their place to know. 

"Turn this corner," Sakura said. "I'm getting a heat signal coming from a cave up ahead. If Orochimaru is in there we need to make sure we're prepared to face him head on."

"Why would Orochimaru be hiding in a cave?" Gaara asked. "If you ask me it sounds like it's just a trap."

I made a 'hn' of acknowledgement and nodded. 

Even though it sounded like a trap we still had to investigate. There could've been valuable information. 

We sprinted faster than before and headed in the direction of the heat signal. 

Gaara was right. Orochimaru wouldn't hide in a cave, he was too good for that. 

As we got closer to the cave we slowed our pace and drew our weapons. 

"On the count of three," Gaara said while turning to us. "One, two, thr-"

Naruto ran into the cave with a sharp battle cry. "I'll eff you up, Orochimaru!"

That idiot couldn't even wait until Gaara stopped talking. 

He produced two shadow clones to run by his side. 

"When I'm done with you, you're gonna wish that you-"

He stopped abruptly. 

The cave was empty and he looked like a complete idiot with his kunai drawn and his shadow clones looking around. 

"Hey Naruto," I said while walking closer to him. "I hate to break it to you but Orochimaru probably isn't here."

I placed a hand on his shoulder and smirked. 

Naruto mimicked my previous words before saying, "Whatever let's just get out of here."

He turned to walk away but was stopped by Sakura's voice. 

"Guys, come look at this." 

She was holding up an old, tattered looking scroll. 

I walked over and scanned the details of it. 

"I think this is a list of Sasuke's strengths and weaknesses. Didn't that guy Kabuto like to make cards like this?" Sakura squinted her eyes. "The scroll itself looks old but the ink inside looks fresh."

Naruto brought his nose close to the ink and sniffed it. When he looked back up he had wide eyes. 

"It smells fresh too. That means that-" 

"Kabuto must be close by," I finished for him. 

He gulped and nodded. 

"You don't think he's still in here, do you?" Sakura asked. "That would be totally creepy."

She shuddered. 

Gaara shook his head. "I can't say for sure. All of our heat signals are covering up the previous one. Maybe it was just an animal?"

He sighed and turned around. "We should go."

Sakura nodded at Naruto and I before saying, "Gaara's right. We better get going. For now just bring the scroll, maybe it can help us find out something about Orochimaru's research on you, Sasuke."

If she wanted to know so badly then she could've just asked me. 

Then again, I suppose I hadn't been the most open about my experience with Orochimaru. 

"Alrighty then, Sakura!" 

Naruto snatched the scroll out of her hand and began to furiously read through it. 

"Weaknesses," he said with an evil chuckle. "I wonder what kind of weaknesses you have, Sasuke."

My eyes widened. "Hey! Give it. It's mine."

I reached out to grab it from him. 

"Actually," he said while sidestepping. "It belonged to Orochimaru and since he isn't here to claim it..."

He jogged backwards to the entrance of the cave, following close behind Sakura. His eyes were firmly planted on me. 

"Finders keeper, losers weepers." He put up an L on his forehead and started reading my weaknesses off of the list. "Your weaknesses are cooking, genjutsu, tomatoes, and-"

He stopped smiling and looked at me. A light shade of pink dusted over his cheeks. 

He turned the scroll over to me and pointed at one of the weaknesses. 

I read it aloud. 

"Naruto."


	10. Anger

Sakura and Gaara turned to Naruto and I. The look that both of them gave me had obvious discomfort. 

"I'm one of your weaknesses?" Naruto asked. "Does it mean weakness as in I'm stronger than you or weakness as in..."

He cut himself off and shook his head. 

"Y'know what? No. This is probably just some sick joke to you, Sasuke. You probably meant that I'm a weakness to you because I'm such an idiot huh? Isn't that what you're always calling me?"

The expression on his face was one I couldn't forget. He looked angry, like I had done something wrong. 

"You like to play games with me and I'm honestly sick of it. I'm not playing along anymore."

I narrowed my eyes at him. 

"Well, you know what Naruto? You're overreacting. Besides, it isn't my fault that you couldn't mind your business enough to not look at the scroll and see that," I said with furrowed brows. "You have that look on your face like I did something to you when I really didn't. I told you before we started the mission that there was something I wanted to talk to you about. So just drop it, okay? We'll talk later."

It was crazy how quickly we could go from happy and joking to angry and fuming. 

"Now listen up Sasuke. I've been dropping hints that I like you since we started living together a couple weeks ago. If you're really trying to pin this on me then don't waste your breath because I don't wanna hear it."

He started to walk away but I grabbed his arm and yanked him back. 

It was the first time in a long time that Naruto and I had gotten into an actual argument. Usually, we fought over stupid things like who was the smartest or strongest. But this time was different. We had actually gotten violent with each other. It wasn't just a couple a harsh words thrown back and forth anymore, it had almost been a full on physical fight. 

"This isn't my fault," I said through clenched teeth. "I haven't done anything wrong. You're the one that decided to get angry with me and claim that I called you weak when I didn't. In fact, I've been nothing but nice to you. Did you ever even consider that maybe just maybe I might like you?"

I released his arm and pushed him away. 

When he looked at me his eyes were softer. It was like he finally decided to stop being so dense and accept the fact that there was more to this conversation than he thought. 

Before he could respond Sakura interrupted. "Guys, stop. Seriously, we have a mission and we can't afford to waste time. Orochimaru could be-" 

I couldn't hold it in any longer. The secret that I had been keeping from all of my friends was weighing me down and in the heat of the moment I decided to just let it all out. 

"Orochimaru is dead, Sakura. I killed him. How else do you think I made it back to the leaf? By asking him nicely?" I scoffed. "He's gone and he isn't going to come back.This whole mission is a fucking waste of time and I'm sorry for not telling you earlier."

Gaara shifted his feet. "We should be heading back to the Leaf then."

His lips were pressed into a straight line and he looked uncomfortable. Mad, even. 

I didn't blame him. I was acting like a shitty person, yelling at my friends and pushing them away. The situation wasn't their fault. 

It was mine.

I lied to them, I yelled at them, and I wasted their time. Why wouldn't they be mad at me? 

"I'm sorry," I said after a while. "I shouldn't have lied. But I've been having bad dreams and flashbacks. This whole situation has been haunting me. I'm glad that I finally told you guys. The secret would've eaten me alive."

A tear rolled down my cheek and I shook furiously. 

After all that time, it had finally dawned on me that I killed a man. He may have been bad and he may have just been using me and hurting me but I still looked up to him. Aside from my friends at the Leaf, he was the closest I had to a real family and I just up and killed him like it was no big deal.

I was mad. I thought that he was gonna just shake it off and get angry with me but he didn't. I hit him and he fell to the ground. 

He didn't get back up.

He just fell. 

"I'm sorry," I said again. 

Sweat poured from all inches of my body. 

"Sasuke it's okay," Naruto said. He walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me. "I mean I'm pissed at you for lying but there's no need to be so sad about it."

His gesture did little to comfort me but I appreciated the effort. He was the only one that ever tried to help me when I was having trouble and I loved him for that. 

"Sasuke," Sakura said softly. "You need to go back to the village and tell Tsunade about this. She'll understand. I know she will."

I shook my head.  I couldn't go back there. If Tsunade knew then everyone knew. It wasn't just something that she would keep under wraps. It was important  for the other ninjas of the village to know. 

And I couldn't just go back and let everyone know that I was a foul murderer.

"I can't go back, Sakura. I just can't."

I turned away from my friends and pushed Naruto away. 

I ran as far as I could. 

The pressure was too much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly have no idea where the fuck this story is going.


	11. PTSD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From this point forward the fic is gonna be centered heavily on Naruto and Sasuke's relationship and on Sasuke's mental health.

I didn't get very far with running, in fact, I woke up in the village hospital three days later with a headache that could kill.

Sakura and the others told me that they found me passed out from dehydration and that I needed to start taking better care of myself. 

They even cussed out Naruto for not paying enough attention to my eating habits. It was pretty funny. 

Although Naruto didn't seem to agree. 

"Sasuke," he said. "You should've told me. You've known me for years, when have I ever judged you for anything? Especially not something like this. You haven't been eating properly or getting enough sleep and honestly it really has me on edge." He heaved a sigh. "When you get out of here, I'm gonna make you some food and we'll watch movies and finally talk everything through. Maybe we'll even argue a little bit. I don't know, I just want things to be normal again."

I wanted things to be normal too. 

"That sounds nice." I nodded to Naruto and gave him the best smile I could muster. 

"Oh but there is just one tiny little detail," he said. "Tsunade wants to talk to you before you get released. It's about Orochimaru."

Tsunade. She was gonna be pissed at me for wasting her time. 

I bit my bottom lip and stood up from the hospital bed. My body was aching from all of the hardships I had put it through. 

"Wait a minute," Sakura said, running into the room. "You really shouldn't be out of bed. You could seriously hurt yourself."

I ignored her cries and kept walking. 

It was better to talk to Tsunade and get everything over with than to beat around the bush for a few more days and ignore the inevitable consequences. I did something wrong and I had to face the music. That was all there was to it. 

So when I walked into Tsunade's office and saw her with a wide grin on her face, I knew something was up. 

"Finally decided to tell the truth?" she asked with a smug look on her face. "It's about time."

"You knew?" 

She definitely knew. 

"Of course I knew. Orochimaru wouldn't just let you go, he'd probably kill you before he'd let you go. I'm not mad at you for keeping it a secret."

I breathed a sigh of relief. 

"But I am worried," she said. "Naruto told me that you've been spacing out a lot and that he's worried about you. He told me that you've been having flashbacks or something." She shuffled a stack of papers in her hand. "I wanted to do a mental health check to see if you're in a good place."

She stared at me with soft, understanding eyes. 

"I'm referring you to a mental health professional." She grabbed a paper from the stack in her hands. "Take this. It's the address of the woman who will be doing the check. If she deems you to be mentally healthy then you'll be good to go and I won't bother you anymore. But if she tells me that you need a little bit of "extra help" then you'll probably just end up in counseling or on some medication."

"What if I don't go?" I asked. "Are you gonna hurt me or something?"

She gave a fierce eye roll. "No, I won't hurt you or anything. I'll just let you live your life in misery while all of your friends live happy, fulfilling lives." She shrugged her shoulders. "The choice is yours."

I guess that seeing a mental health professional was something that was really important to Tsunade and I didn't particularly want to disappoint her. Besides, maybe she was right to worry about me. I did have some pretty scary flashbacks and as much as I wanted to convince myself that I was normal; I already knew that I wasn't. 

 

 

The therapist's office was warm and welcoming with a large sofa that spanned nearly half of the room. It vaguely reminded me of a time when my family and I would sit in the living room and spend quality time together. 

Back before I became a crazy head case. 

"Sasuke Uchiha?" The woman asked after walking into the room. "I'm Dr. Takahashi and I'll be doing the mental health check."

She sat on the other end of the couch and pulled out a notepad. "I'll be asking you a few questions. When I'm done I should have a pretty accurate idea of how you're feeling, possibly even a diagnosis."

She shrugged her shoulders and pushed up her glasses. 

I nodded and heaved a sigh. 

"First question," she said. "Have you been having any repeated, disturbing images of a stressful even from the past?" 

I thought about it for a second. I did have disturbing images of the past. But I wanted to just lie and say that I didn't. 

I couldn't lie though. I'd spent way too much time lying and I needed to come clean already. 

"Yes, I have." I nodded my head. 

"Mhm," she said, writing something in her notepad. "Interesting."

"Do you get upset something reminds you of that event?"

My mind flashed back to that night in the kitchen when I was making tea. 

"Of course," I said. "Who doesn't?"

"What about angry outburts? Difficulty concentrating?"

I nodded my head and she kept writing in her notes. 

I already knew that she was gonna tell me I had some kind of crazy mental disorder. 

"Just one more question. Have you had any flashbacks recently?"

My eyes widened and I nodded my head. 

"I see," she said with a sigh. She took off her glasses and gave me an intense look. 

"I'm sorry to say this Sasuke but I think you might have PTSD."

PTSD? 

The more I thought about it the more it made sense. I was a self destructive, irritable, insomniac and I was surprised that I didn't realize it sooner. Still, was it really worth making such a huge fuss? 

I didn't want to cause anyone any more trouble than I already had but clearly trouble liked to follow me wherever I went. 

"So when does therapy start?" I asked. 

She clicked her tongue and checked her watch. When she looked back up she had a wicked grin on her face. 

"Now."


	12. Tomatoes and Ramen

It took about a month before I began to see progress in my treatment with Dr. Takahashi. She was a calm and understanding woman, seeing her every week definitely helped me understand my emotions a little bit better. 

She helped me assess everything from the tragic death of my family to my not so secret love for Naruto. She didn't make me feel dumb for anything that I did and she always accepted when I didn't want to talk about certain things. 

Even though I had only known her for a short period of time she was one of the only people that I truly felt comfortable around. She was the perfect therapist; kind, gentle, down to earth, and understanding. That was more than I could say about most of my other friends. 

She talked to me about the things that everyone else was scared of talking about. 

"So what about that boy Naruto?" she asked me one day when our session was coming to a close. "You told me that he knew you liked him but that you haven't discussed it since that day in the forest. Do you plan on asking him out anytime soon?"

I wasn't caught off guard by her question, in fact, I was a bit surprised that she hadn't asked it earlier. I talked about Naruto lot. Probably more than I should have to be honest. 

"I'm not really sure how I would go about asking him." I shrugged. "I've thought about it a lot but for some reason I just don't have any ideas."

Then it dawned on me. 

Ramen. 

I hadn't been able to make him ramen since we had that mission to go on but now that it was over I didn't have an excuse anymore. 

"Well actually," I continued on from where I'd left off. "I learned how to make ramen a while back and I did it with the intent of using it to ask out Naruto but then we got that mission and I started coming here so I was never able to do it. I guess now is as good a time as any to make it for him and ask him out."

Her eyes lit up. "That's wonderful Sasuke! When do you think you'll be doing it? Today? Tomorrow?"

Her pearly white teeth shone with her smile.

The more I looked at it, the more I realized how beautiful she was. I mean, I wasn't interested in her or anything but she had this certain charm to her that could instantly make anyone feel comfortable. 

"I think that I'll do it today," I said. "Thanks Ms. Takahashi."

I got up to leave. 

"Takahashi is a little formal, don't ya think?" she asked. "Call me Rika from now on. I think we're close enough."

She flashed another smile. "See you next week, Sasuke."

I was already halfway out of the door when I finally turned back to her and responded. 

"See ya."

 

After I bought the ingredients for Naruto's ramen, I walked into the kitchen and began my work. 

I tried to remember all that Teuchi and Ayame told me. 

The first step was to flatten the dough and the cut it into noodle shapes. 

I grabbed the roller and focused my chakra on my fingertips for extra power. Next, I cut the dough into noodle shapes and rolled them up. Once I had finished with that I dropped the noodles in a pot of boiling water so they could simmer. 

The next part that I needed to focus on was the broth. 

Teuchi told me that the broth was the hardest part of the ramen and that it wouldn't be easy to make. So I grabbed some meat and spices from the fridge and cupboard. 

I had to find the perfect balance between the broth and the noodles and although I wasn't quite sure how to do it, I figured it couldn't be that hard. 

I cut up a few pieces of beef along with shittake mushrooms and squeezed their juice into the pot with the noodles. I grabbed a bottle of soy sauce and some mirin and slowly stirred them in. The broth started to take on a light yellow color. 

I heaved a sigh before taking a wooden spoon and scooping up the broth. With slight hesitation, I popped the broth into my mouth and let the flavor overwhelm my taste buds. 

It was better than I expected. Yet there was still something missing. 

At Ichiraku's the broth tasted like perfection. Mine, on the other hand, was good but it wasn't great. 

Maybe an egg? 

I reached into the refrigerator for a carton of eggs. I figured that maybe eggs was all that was missing from the recipe. 

I poured about half of the contents of the pot into two bowls, mine and Naruto's. I cracked an egg over each of our bowls and let them sit. When I saw them turn white, I stirred once more and took a small sip. 

It definitely tasted a little bit better. Still though, it felt like something was missing.

"Hey Sasuke!" Naruto called out from behind me. "Something smells good. Are you cooking?" He gasped. "Is that ramen? Is it for me? Can I eat it?"

He licked his lips and grabbed one of the bowls. 

"Hey wait, I'm not done yet!" I tried to call out to him but he was already at the kitchen table slurping down his noodles. 

Naruto ate ramen almost everyday and I was almost 100 percent sure that he would be able to taste what it was that I was missing. 

I took my bowl from the counter and sat across from him at the table. 

"How is it?" I asked, wincing slightly. 

He looked up at me from across the table with a sparkle in his eyes. "It's delicious. So amazing Sasuke."

The dreamy look on his face was dare I say...

Adorable.

I looked down at my own bowl of ramen. I thought that perhaps I was over thinking it when I said that it was missing something. 

I took a small sip. 

Nope. It was definitely still missing something. 

Tomato paste? 

I stood up from my seat and went to the cupboard to get the tomato paste. When I was back at my seat I poured some of the paste into my ramen and stirred it until it was a pale red color. 

"Ew Sasuke. Are you seriously putting that disgusting stuff in your ramen? C'mon man you're better than that."

Naruto shielded his eyes in a rather dramatic way. 

I sighed. "Yeah yeah."

I grabbed my bowl and lifted it until the broth reached my mouth. I took in all of the flavor. 

Ah tomatoes. 

My one true love. 

They definitely fixed what was missing from the broth. 

I looked up at Naruto to see him happily slurping down the food. 

"So," I began. "During the mission there was something I said to you that I had been meaning to say for a while but never really had the guts to. Do you remember when we were in the cave and we found that scroll?"

He nodded. 

"Well, Orochimaru really wasn't lying when he said that you were one of my weaknesses. One day after I made my first kill he showed me a strange vision. In that vision you were on the floor, bloody and beaten up. He was gonna kill you."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Sasuke I was never there I-"

I cut him off. "I known you weren't there. It was a sick trick that Orochimaru and Kabuto decided to play on me. I really was scared." I scratched the back of my head and swirled some noodles Inbetween my chopstics. "I guess since he saw how much I cared he decided to label you as my weakness."

I began to gather my courage to ask him out. 

Naruto put down his bowl of ramen and looked down. "I'm so glad you told me this Sasuke." He let out a weak chuckle. "If Orochimaru was alive right now I would totally kick his ass y'know."

I gave him a small smile in return. 

It wasn't the right time for me to tell him. Our friendship was too precious and I wanted to enjoy it for at least a little while longer. 

Naruto rubbed his eyes and walked to where I was sitting. 

He wrapped his arms around me and gave my hair a quick ruffle. 

"Night, Sasuke."

With that he walked out of the kitchen and left me sitting in my chair to revel in what had just happened. 

I was so close to finally having him but instead I chickened out and let him slip through my fingers. 

"Geez," I said aloud. "Naruto isn't the idiot." 

I sat back in my seat and closed my eyes. 

"I am."


End file.
